Lathan McKay
| Lathan McKay | |
|---|---|
 Lathan McKay in 2018 | |
| Born |
Erik McKay January 10, 1978 Austin, Texas |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Erik McKay |
| Occupation | Producer, curator, actor, entrepreneur and writer |
| Years active | 2002 - present |
Lathan McKay (born January 10, 1978) is an American producer, curator, actor, writer and entrepreneur. A former professional skateboarder, he has assembled the largest collection of Evel Knievel memorabilia in the world. That now resides at the official Evel Knievel Museum with Harley Davidson.[1][2][3]
Biography
McKay grew up in Austin, Texas. He started skateboarding as a child, and became a sponsored skateboarder at 14. Inspired by "the father of extreme sports," Evel Knievel, he spent a decade on the road as a professional skateboarder, breaking for a year to attend college at the University of Texas, Austin. McKay was also a cinephile and inspired by 70s-era existential movies like Thunderbolt and Lightfoot,Cisco Pike, Night Moves, Some Came Running and Charley Varrick. The films of Sam Peckinpah and particularly Monte Hellman's Two-Lane Blacktop.[4][5]
In 2003, McKay was cast in Levelland, a film about coming of age in the flatlands of Texas. Several of its fictional characters were skateboarders, and director Clark Lee Walker, co-writer of The Newton Boys cast avid skateboarders to act in the film. McKay co-starred in Levelland, which premiered at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival. Because another actor had already registered Erik McKay in the Screen Actors Guild he chose Lathan as his first name.[6]
In 2004, he moved to Los Angeles to continue a career as an actor. As he looked for a place to live, he was ironically introduced to his favorite film director Monte Hellman by a friend, actor Nicky Katt. Hellman had a spare room in his Laurel Canyon home, and McKay moved in. He performed in several films, and in 2008, he was cast to portray Layne Staley of Alice In Chains in Layne Staley: Get Born Again, a biographical film that went into production but was never completed due to estate and legal issues. McKay continued to act, but became more interested in all aspects of filmmaking. In 2008 he joined Hellman's production company. In addition to other projects, he worked as Hellman's assistant on the 2010 Golden Lion award-winning film Road to Nowhere, in which he also performed. McKay played a significant role in the re-release of Two-Lane Blacktop. Assisting production on Somewhere Near Salinas with Kris Kristofferson and appearing in Two-Lane Blacktop Revisited through The Criterion Collection.[1][4]
Long enamored of Evel Knievel's daredevil philosophy, McKay began his collection of memorabilia in early 2012. After months of research and a lengthy negotiation, he acquired his first set of Evel Knievel's 1974 jump leathers and a performance helmet. Soon after, he traveled to Knievel's hometown of Butte, Montana for the annual Evel Knievel Days celebration and made connections with knievel crew, family and fans. "None of his memorabilia was there," McKay said in a 2014 interview. "His ramps were rotting, sitting in the fields, and that really motivated us even more to get his legacy intact."
With the blessing and partnership of Knievel's family and widow, Krystal Knievel, McKay and friends Robby Hull, Scott Wiley and Marilyn Stemp resurrected Evel Knievel Enterprises and began a worldwide hunt for Knievel memorabilia, which McKay termed "Evel Archaelogy." By 2015, McKay owned "the largest Evel Knievel collection ever assembled, a collection of such massive proportions it’s more complete than the daredevil himself ever amassed in one place." McKay has exhibited the collection throughout the United States consistently since it was first displayed in 2013. It includes six jump bikes, X-rays of Evel’s broken bones, Knievel's performance leathers and most iconic helmets, wardrobe and personal effects.[7][8]
After it was featured on the television series American Trucker, McKay purchased Big Red, the Mack truck Knievel used as living quarters and bike and ramp hauler. Badly weather-damaged, McKay, Mike Patterson, and his team of restoration experts at Historic Harley-Davidson in Topeka, Kansas, refurbished Big Red. A bolt-by-bolt restoration which took 22 months, 96 people and over $300,000. The truck's interior and exterior were restored to its exact condition in the 70's when Knievel, at the height of his popularity, travelled in it. It was debuted and led the yearly parade at Evel Knievel Days in Butte in 2015. Driven by Mike Draper, who began driving for Knievel in the early 1970s, Big Red was displayed on tour at events throughout the United States with the support of Mack Trucks and featured prominently in the documentary Being Evel, by Academy Award winning director Daniel Junge. Big Red will be permanently housed at the Evel Knievel Museum, which is scheduled to open in Topeka, Kansas in 2017. McKay refers to it as the "mothership" of his collection.[9][10]
McKay was also a co-producer and rare film & photo archivist for the Emmy nominated documentary Being Evel with producer Johnny Knoxville and actor George Hamilton. He appeared in the documentary I Am Evel Knievel, for which he also provided rare content, and executive produced the Leo Award winning feature-length documentary Chasing Evel: The Life of Robbie Knievel, which premiered at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival and Nashville Film Festival in 2017. It is scheduled for worldwide release in mid 2017.[4]
McKay partnered with mentor Monte Hellman and his daughter, Melissa, to form Melhell Productions. As of 2017 they are in pre-production on an original feature film Mckay penned with Jared Hellman titled Falling Forward. The film depicts people who are "finding a way to live fully immersed, surviving the whole fucked-up swirl of life on the edge, rather than finding a way to merely exist on the safe side."[4]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Credit | Medium |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | The Right Girl | Actor, skater | Film |
| 2003 | Levelland | Actor (Nick Stanley) | Film |
| 2007 | Two Lane Blacktop" (Revisited) | Actor (Himself) | Short film |
| 2007 | Somewhere Near Salinas | Production | Short film |
| 2008 | Harold | Actor (Officer Shannon) | Film |
| 2009 | Layne and Demri | Actor (Layne Staley) | Short film |
| 2011 | Road to Nowhere"(film) | Actor, director's assistant | Film |
| 2011 | Trichotomy | Writer, actor (The Kid) | Video short |
| 2011 | Echo Park Love Story | Actor (The Artist) | Short film |
| 2014 | I Am Evel Knievel | Himself, archivist | Documentary |
| 2015 | Being Evel | Co-producer, archivist | Documentary |
| 2016 | Color Me Lucky | Executive producer, actor (Evel) | Video short |
| 2016 | Evelution | Director, Executive producer, (Himself) | Film |
| 2017 | Chasing Evel; The Life of Robbie Knievel | Executive producer, actor (himself), archivist | Documentary |
| 2018 | Saving Evel | Director, Executive producer, writer | Documentary |
| 2018 | Off the Record | Producer, actor (Simms) | Film |
| 2018 | Collision Course | Consulting producer, (Himself) | Documentary |
References
- 1 2 Hay, Travis (March 20, 2008). "Actor cast as Layne Staley in biopic rocks out with fake AIC". Seattle Post Intelligencer. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
- ↑ Smith, Bruce W. (August 20, 2015). "Evel exhibition: A look back at a daredevil ahead of his time". Gizmag. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
- ↑ Hauger, Piper (March 4, 2013). "Evel Knievel collector to show daredevil's memorabilia in Butte". Montana Standard. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 Christensen, Julie (August 14, 2014). "Recreating the Traveling Circus That Was Evel Knievel". Twisted South. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
- ↑ Dunlap, Tetona (January 16, 2015). "Evel Knievel Collector Searches for Magic Valley Treasures". Magic Valley. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
- ↑ "Levelland Details". movies.com. Movies.com. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
- ↑ Jesselson, Rob (July 24, 2013). "Man Makes it his Mission to Collect Evel Knievel Goods". Fox KFBB. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
- ↑ Stamp, Marilyn (March 15, 2015). "Largest Evel Knievel Collection at COTA GP". Motorcycle USA. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
- ↑ Straface, Sonia (August 21, 2015). "Mack helps revive Evel Knievel's spirit". Truck News. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
- ↑ Abt, Neil (August 31, 2015). "Evel Knievel's 'Big Red' Mack Restored for Documentary on Famous Daredevil". Transport Topics. Retrieved 4 July 2016.